Senior Health Scientist
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Diane Harris, PhD MPH, serves as a Senior Health Scientist in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As lead for the Healthy Food Environments Team (HFE), she directs efforts aimed at enhancing public health through strategies that improve access to healthy and culturally diverse foods via policy, systems, and environmental change strategies. Dr. Harris is committed to fostering food and nutrition security by cultivating healthy food environments in worksites, healthcare facilities, food banks and pantries, and other government and community settings. With the HFE Team, Dr. Harris leads initiatives that provide programmatic and technical assistance to federal agencies, and state, local, and tribal public health entities, working to create partnerships to amplify access to and demand for nutritious foods. Specific strategy areas include food is medicine approaches and nutrition standards for institutional food service, with efforts focused on communities with elevated risk for chronic diseases. Prior to her tenure at CDC, Dr. Harris held a faculty position at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she directed a research program investigating the efficacy of plant-derived anticancer compounds using model systems. She holds a B.S. in Animal Science from the University of California, Davis, a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition from Cornell University, and an M.P.H. in Prevention Science from Emory University, and served in postdoctoral research positions at Washington University and UCLA.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM ET
Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
9:05 AM - 9:30 AM ET
Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.